Joseph E. Sartin Sr., 88, passed away on September 24, 2017. The second of four brothers, Joe grew up in the Pennsylvania coal mine town of Laflin. In an era that all Americans viscerally experienced a degree of hardship, Joe learned values from hard work by cracking coal at 10 cents a peck—a modest supplement to his father’s income. In his softer memories of childhood, he recalled climbing along slate and rock banks. He and his neighborhood friends often ambled across the family home’s dirt road to play baseball in a nearby field. Unable to suppress a Cheshire grin, Joe would recount recklessly roaring his bicycle through the town’s dirt roads and steep hills. Following high school in Plains, PA, Joe fittingly earned the nickname “Zoom” after purchasing his first car—a 1937 Plymouth Convertible, which he later sold for $7.

Joe then met a kind-hearted girl from nearby Edwardsville who worked at the local drugstore. He and future wife Dolores (whom he affectionately called Dorie) began a relationship that lasted nearly 70 years. Joe and Dorie’s union solidified over two overseas tours for Joe in the Army. He was always staunchly proud of his time in the uniform having served with Company D, 31st Infantry Regiment during the preamble to the Korean War and Company B, 6th Infantry Regiment while rebuilding Germany under the Marshall Plan in Berlin. These times that he and Dorie spent apart convinced him that she was “the one”.

His return to the States, steaming under the Statue of Liberty, bestowed on Joe one of his most treasured experiences. With an honorable discharge in hand, Joe and Dorie married. The two eventually settled in Bridgewater, New Jersey where Joe built their house with his own hands in nine months and began a family. The couple lived there together for the remainder of his life. Joe took a job as a lab technician making plastics at Union Carbide, where he worked his entire career and rose to the position of area supervisor to the Polystyrene Department.

Joe experienced the greatest joys in life watching his kids grow and have children of their own. He demonstrated enormous support and love for his grandchildren; he rarely, if he ever, missed a sporting event. His wit came out more with age and once described his best quality as “being cheap.” He was never one to miss a trip down the shore or to a flea market in search of rare coins. Contrary to his “cheapness,” he showered each of his 8 grandkids and 9 great-grandkids (there’s also another on the way!) with Hess trucks and Holiday Barbie dolls each and every Christmas. Looking back on his life he recognized that his greatest legacy didn’t rest in his time in the service or the accomplishment of building a house; his greatest legacy was simply, and proudly, his family. He loved us all very much.

Joe is survived by his wife Dolores of sixty-seven years and his three children, Joe Sartin Jr., Karen Devine and her husband Charley, and Patty Teeling and her husband Tim. He is also survived by his herd of grandchildren, Jamie Hadac and her husband Chris, Bob Sartin, his wife Nadia and their three children, Brian Devine, his wife Jeanie, and their two children, Tim Devine, his wife Tricia and their four children, Chris Devine, Tim Teeling, his wife Sarah, with a baby on the way, Liz Teeling and her boyfriend Joe Cahill, Katie Teeling and her boyfriend Evan Kerstetter. Visitation will begin at 11:00am on Tuesday September 26 and conclude with a Funeral Service at Noon at the Cusick Funeral Home in Somerville. Entombment to follow at St.Bernard's Mausoleum in Bridgewater. In lieu of flowers, the family would like you to spend time with your loved ones or donate to the American Kidney Fund (kidneyfund.org) in Joe’s memory.